F3 - Maiden victory for Nikita Troitckii

The twelfth race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season produced the maiden victory for Nikita Troitckii (Carlin). Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing) and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) came second and third at the 4.307 kilometres long Circuit Zandvoort. Rookie driver Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing), who finished 16th in the race, remains in the lead of the drivers’ standings.

At the start, Daniel Ticktum (Motopark) moved up into the lead, but the Brit had jumped the start. Behind him, Nikita Troitckii and Guanyu Zhou battled for second with the Russian having the upper hand. After Ben Hingeley (Hitech Bullfrog GP) retired in the gravel trap, the safety car came out. Soon after the restart, Ticktum was given a drive-through penalty for his jump start, he went on to park his car in the pit lane one lap later.

Meanwhile, Troitckii led an FIA Formula 3 European Championship race for the first time in his career, followed by Zhou, Jehan Daruvala and Marino Sato (Motopark). After Julian Hanses (ma-con) had crashed his car into the barriers, the safety car came out for the second time followed by a red flag shortly after that. The race was called and thus, Troitckii celebrated his maiden victory in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Zhou and Daruvala joined in the podium celebrations in second and third place, followed by Sato, Fabio Scherer (Motopark), Alex Palou (Hitech Bullfrog GP), Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin), Jonathan Aberdein (Motopark), Artem Petrov (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Enaam Ahmed (Hitech Bullfrog GP). For Petrov, racing for the only Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing, these were his first FIA Formula 3 European Championship points.

The next race weekend will take place in a fortnight at the legendary Belgian Formula 1 track of Spa-Francorchamps.

Nikita Troitckii (Carlin): “My maiden victory in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship is a really great feeling. I think that we have deserved this victory because we are working really hard as a team. I had a good start and I was able to move up into second place. Then, I put race leader Daniel Ticktum under pressure until he headed into the pit lane because of his drive-through penalty. After that, I was in the lead. My car was great, so that I was even able to pull a slight gap to Guanyu.”

Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing): “At the start, I didn’t want to take maximum risk, so Nikita slotted in in front of me. For me, this race was mainly about scoring as many points as possible. Initially, I was having some issues with the tyres, but things got better as the race went on. At the restart, I tried to attack Nikita, but it wasn’t enough for me.”

Jehan Daruvala (Carlin): “I am delighted that we are here on the podium with two Carlin drivers. This shows that we are on the right way. We have found a couple of things here, so that I am hoping for a better second half of the season. Nikita drove really well here, but my race wasn’t too bad either. At the start, I was able to make up positions and I ended up on the podium thanks to Daniel Ticktum’s penalty.”